"[A]bout 60% of people coming into the Spokane County Jail have behavioral health disorders, and 20% of people leaving the jail are homeless." This mass incarceration does NOT provide solutions or better our community. #EndMassIncarceration www.spokesman.com/stories/2022...

We're halfway there. Please help us spread the word. Have a great weekend, folks!

We are so excited! Portrait artists at Terrain are partnering with Jupiter's Eye to do a book drive for Books to Prisoners!! Come in Friday, June 6th from 6-8 pm at 411 W Riverside Ave, Spokane, WA and purchase books for Books to Prisoners and you will receive a portrait drawing FREE!

Another week, another pile of books being shipped to fulfill folks' requests. Our volunteer team can do this because of community donations. Thank you to everyone who has bought from our wishlist on bookshop!! We receive a matching grant from the Hull Foundation and are able to send even more!

My Fellow Black People‼️ There is no non-racist capitalism; there is no non-deadly capitalism. Black People‼️ Please, PLEASE heed the words of our ancestors. There is no place for us in this nation—no safe place for Black America to thrive within the capitalistic structures of these United States.🇺🇸

[Book requests from prisoners] remind us that reading, at its core, isn’t about cultural capital or carceral control. It’s about maintaining our essential human right to imagine differently, to choose freely, and to find joy in our own way, even within confinement. #MustRead

"I first make a sketch using white or brown regular colored pencils. Next I add a few highlights with my watercolor pencils. Then I get my Q-tips out and start dipping them into my paints and filling in the sketch. ... Once that's finished, I take a Q-tip or toothpick and begin to dot the work."

We always learn something reading people's letter requests. In this letter, that Paul Morphy could play chess blindfolded. Imagine that! Not many prisons accept hard cover books anymore, so it was doubly special that we had just the book requested--and that the facility would accept it!

If you're looking for some more inspiration for ways you can take action in your community, explore our One Million Experiments website—you'll find snapshots of community-based projects exploring how we can define and create safety and reduce harm without police and prisons. Plus zines + a podcast:

To learn about why policing doesn’t stop violence, why police reforms will never work, and more about how the demand to defund police is the floor, No More Police by @prisonculture.bsky.social and @dreanyc123.bsky.social is essential. For excerpts, interviews, and resources related to the book:

Did you miss Independent Bookstore Day? Don’t worry! You can donate a book to DCBTP today from bookshop.org and get free shipping! Support independent bookstores and send books to prisoners - linktr.ee/dcbtp #BooksToPeopleInPrison #IndieBookstoreDay #PrisonBooksWishlists

Books to Prisoners Spokane gets all our letters from @bookstoprisoners.bsky.social Seattle. The letters are as unique as you and me and the individuals that write them. One common theme is always that books HELP. They provide entertainment, information, connection, spirituality, and HOPE.

Another week, another huge pile of packages Books to Prisoners is fulfilling to ship to incarcerated folks! Due to limited funds each package contains 3 books usually. Recently we've been receiving a lot of requests for adult coloring books. Thank you to our community for helping make this happen!

Spokane County Jail discriminately incarcerates more Black people—something the JFA Institute reported when Spokane County paid them to analyze jail disparities. Increased police state disproportionately harms people of color—and benefits the wealthy. #FreeThemAll www.inlander.com/news/spokane...

Incarceration disappears people from our community. Legally they can be used as slave labor to enrich the billionaire class. Spokane has contracts using incarcerated folks' labor for cheap furniture, etc. This does our community no good. #FreeThemAll #EndMassIncarceration

Spokane County Jail is no exception. We must demand our officials prioritize medical treatment for medical emergencies. Addiction is a disease, and withdrawal can be fatal. Locking up people for drug-use offenses—preventing treatment—only harms our community. www.spokesman.com/stories/2019...

Books to Prisoners Spokane has a wish list on Bookshop! Help us purchase these relevant, requested books so our volunteer team can ship your donation to incarcerated folks across the country. Books stimulate not only the imagination but growth for the future. bookshop.org/wishlists/e8...

When Books to Prisoners Spokane receives letter requesting free books, we don't just get authors or subjects or book titles. Incarcerated writers pour their personality through drawings sometimes. We're grateful to be able to be able to donate so much through community support!

if we're defining a constitutional crisis as a breakdown in the rule of law or the erosion of constitutional protections, then we’ve been in one for a long time (see: US prisons.) what we’re seeing now is just that breakdown becoming more visible to people who were never directly targeted before

April is Second Chances Month, which means we're thinking a lot about life after prison. And that's exactly what our friend Renaldo Hudson spoke about when he visited us a couple of years ago. Listen to his talk on perpetual punishment:

Books to Prisoners Spokane has a table at Get Lit tomorrow! Join us as we listen to featured authors, guest speakers, and SpokAnimal open mic time. There's poetry and more. We're selling t-shirts and books we cannot send to incarcerated folks, to fund sending more! inside.ewu.edu/getlit/get-l...

Spokane's criminal legal system similarly discriminates. SPD + Prosecutor Larry Haskell overcharge individuals—both in # of charges & severity of charges—to guarantee plea deals. If you hit 9 charges, they'll then demand max sentencing. www.scarspokane.org/haskell-back...

We send books to incarcerated individuals almost every week! Here is an example of the packages we put together to send out—each package contains ~3 books.